I will admit it right here and now, I have a massive soft
spot for musicals. As a result, I was excited when I learned of a musical
crossover episode between CW’s The Flash and
Supergirl. Unfortunately; since I am
busy at the time the episodes air in their first run, I had to wait until the
current seasons arrived on Netflix to watch the episode. Upon watching said
episode, I came to a few conclusions. First, I felt the premise of Flash and
Supergirl being trapped in a musical film was admittedly “tacked-on”. Second, I
think the reason they made this a musical episode was to make it a Glee reunion (Melissa Benoist, Grant
Gustin, and Darren Criss are all Glee alum).
Finally, the overall premise of the episode felt similar to Batman: The Brave and the Bold’s Wrath of the Music Meister; replacing
Batman with The Flash and Supergirl.
The
episode’s premise follows Barry Allen (aka The Flash) and Kara Zor-El (aka
Supergirl) as they are put in a comatose state by Music Meister (played by Glee
alum Darren Criss) and forced to act in a musical. I have two theories as to
why this episode was created. My first theory is the writers were desperate for
an episode and thought “let’s make this episode a Glee reunion; maybe give
Darren Criss a role”. My second theory is this episode was a partial promotion
for the home release of La La Land (I
doubt this was the case, as these two were not released around the same time;
they were released a month apart). Despite having a weak premise, this episode
significantly contributes to both shows’ storylines. The character arc between
Barry Allen and Iris West is progressed further, along with Mon-El and Kara’s
arc in their own series. Overall, this episode had a story as weak as La La Land, and the weakest link is
undoubtedly where La La shined; the
musical numbers.
In
musicals, the songs serve the purpose of advancing the plot. The work would not
be able to survive without these songs, as the latter serves as a backbone.
Musical plots are written around the songs. That is not the case with this
episode. I understand Grant Gustin, Melissa Benoist, and Darren Criss have
musical talents, and I admit they were amazing by utilizing these talents.
However, the songs in this episode are totally unnecessary. The episode could
have worked without them, and it could have relied solely on the plot. The
songs were nothing more than a “shoehorned” gimmick. They were mostly
unnecessary, save for the finale. Aside from the episode’s final song, I
cringed at the lyrics for most of the musical numbers; especially Superfriends (even though it was a
brilliant reference to the Hanna-Barbera cartoon of the same name). On a
positive note, I will admit the songs are an excellent example of utilizing the
chemistry between Gustin and Benoist, as the two fantastically worked through
them.
While the
plot and music were as bland as unbuttered toast, this episode shines in
developing characters and world-building (or “multiverse building”, as Flash
and Supergirl hail from two different universes). Utilizing Music Meister as
the main antagonist was a fantastic choice, as he is one of DC’s lesser-known
rogues. I hate to say this (as I was never a fan of Glee), but I begrudgingly admit Darren Criss was the perfect choice
for this character. He nailed the role, and I cannot imagine anybody else as
Music Meister.
Overall,
I would give this episode a seven out of ten. While the musical numbers and
premise were weak, it was excellent in progressing the shows’ plots and adding
significant amounts of character development. Since this episode is important
to the plot, I would unfortunately advise against skipping it. However, if you
have to watch this episode on your Netflix binge (assuming you have Netflix); I
would suggest letting this episode play in the background or skip to the end
after watching the beginning.
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